Looking on the forum and cannot find any recent ideas. I am looking for a 4 way and a 1 way hose timer for the garden. Using a c8 hub. Any ideas? thanks.
I used Orbit B-Hyve for several years and while they did the job, the mobile app is a hot mess. If I recall correctly, you can't manually control the valve until it has been in a schedule at some point. And the app makes the assumption you only can have one of these valves (there is a workaround).
This past year I purchased Rachio garden hose timers. They also work well and the app is easier to use. But they are a little pricey and the battery cover does a lousy job of being waterproof. At least half of mine got the batteries wet which corroded the contacts. Fortunately, Rachio replaced them for free. Also, the Rachio garden hose timers cannot be integrated into a Rachio controller, oddly enough.
Both B-Hyve and Rachio have community integrations to work with Hubitat.
Replaced B-Hyve with with Sonoff zigbee hose timer. Easily pairs as a Tuya Zigbee valve. US uses the SWV-NH connection style, Ali Express if you have the time. Google Search
Continue to use BHyve, with WET-IT. Works well
I'm currently using (4) sonoff Zigbee smart valves. I've had issues with the valves being waterproof and the physical button quit working. I had one fail out of the box new. One will sometimes measure flow, sometimes not.
I wish I had just used old fashioned jar valves and a $20 4 relay Zigbee module to control them. I may still go that route.
The Yolink smart sprinkler valves look pretty nice. They can do flow metering so rather than timing you can set the amount of water.
I have been thinking the same thing. I've been using wifi and Zigbee hose valves for several year now, I've yet to have one make it through the third summer. I think I am going to build my own for any that fail this coming summer.
I've been looking at valves like these on All Express.
I would use a 12V Power Supply (also cheap on Ali) to power the Zigbee relay board and the valves. I'm also tired of changing the batteries in my current smart valves.
I still have 5 months of weekly watering before the summer rains really start here so I'm not sure if I'll make a change now or wait until next fall after hurricane season. But, those look interesting and economical enough so maybe.....
Thanks for idea.
Rainbird or orbit 24v valves are around 15 bucks at home depot. I would think just using the standard stuff and voltage makes sense.
Good point. I'm looking at options, and those Zigbee boards can run on 24V so it probably makes more sense to go higher volts anyway. Anything with better dependability than the tiny 3V valves in the smart garden valve devices.
Those 3v valves are just underpowered, and they get jammed stuck on because the spring is too wimpy to push it back off when there is wear resistance, or they get stuck off because the coil is too small to push it open with resistance from wear. That's my theory, anyway. I think I get a bit under 1000 on/off cycles or just over two summers out of those valves before they get sticky, based two watering cycles a day.
I have the Rachio hose timer.. Since I already have the Rachio sprinkler controller, it just uses the same app.
I don't have it connected to Hubitat (wifi) since I set up the schedule in the Rachio app and let Rachio weather logic control the rain/snow skip. It does have an API but I'm not sure if there is a native Hubitat app for it.
I've been using a SONOFF Zigbee hose timer for one season. It has worked great so far.
I'm using it with this driver: [RELEASE] Tuya Zigbee Valve driver (w/ healthStatus)
I'm using this app to control when I run the spinkler: [Release] Sprinkler Schedule Manager App
The timer hardware has a built-in 'auto-off' that the above driver lets you set. Or you can juse use the app.
I have another one that I've set up for use later this year, but not yet used. E.g., I've paired it, set up the app, but I've not had it outside in use yet. It has 2 independent valves. It seems about equivalent to the SONOFF in build quality. US$46 Amazon.com: Haozee Zigbee Sprinkler Timer 2 Zone,Smart Water Timer for Garden Hose, Requires Zigbee 3.0 Hub,Support Home Assistant Zigbee2mqtt, Rain Delay and Manual Watering, Leakproof for Yard Lawn Watering : Patio, Lawn & Garden
I use these too. They work great. I cut in one to each bib by my PEX patch panel. They kind of double as backflow valves since during watering season I leave the outside valves open and simply open and close these.
SONOFF SWV Zigbee 3.0 Smart Water Valve IP55 Sprinkler Controller and SNZB-05P Zigbee Water Leak Sensor Work With Alexa Google
I just bought the Orbit 4‑spigot manifold and the Wi‑Fi module. So far, I like it. It’s not connected to a hose yet; it’s just sitting in my living room, but the functionality seems solid. I haven’t connected it to Hubitat yet, and I’m not sure I even see a reason to, other than monitoring.
I have a question, though. Maybe this should be its own thread. The Orbit unit turns the water on and off. There’s another Orbit product, the “animal sprayer,” which works as a standalone device and uses a motion sensor to start and stop the water flow. As far as I can tell, it’s basically the same Orbit timer but with a motion sensor added to trigger the valve.
Does anyone know how to add a motion controller to the Orbit unit without using Hubitat? If I could add motion control to the timer, I could set up a sprinkler to work the same way as the animal deterrent. I don’t like the animal sprayer because it requires running a hose from the spigot to the sprayer, and in the past I’ve had hoses burst from the summer heat. If the timer itself controlled the water on and off, the risk would be much lower.
I was able to get habitat to control the timer, so now it will be easy to buy and configure a motion sensor to kick off my zone when needed.
So.... kids get off my lawn sorta situation?
That works too, I figured I will program it and not tell the wife.
OK, so more of a divorce-o-matic?
